Designing tomorrow with TI embedded processing

Hello, everyone. My name's Adrian Fernandez, Microcontroller Development Experience Manager here at Texas Instruments, and we're extremely excited to be at embedded world this week to talk about brand new products and demos. And we want to give you a sneak peek on some of that. So I brought a few TI experts to walk through a few ways that we're enabling sensing and measurement applications specifically with our new CapTIvate technology.
In addition, we also have brand new processing and control products to enable digital power type of applications from our product line. And then lastly, showing how we can enable developers to connect in brand new ways. And I've got Nick Smith here from our SimpleLink MCU platform team to introduce how we're introducing Zigbee and Thread to the SimpleLink MCU platform.
So I'll go ahead and introduce you here to Nick Smith.
Thanks, Adrian. So this is a really exciting demo. It's the first time that we're showing Thread on the SimpleLink platform. The demo is going to be running on our CC26x2 LaunchPad and that LaunchPad is based on the CC2652R multi-standard device that can run Bluetooth 5, Thread and Zigbee. All the software is a part of the SimpleLink CC26x2SDK, which is compatible with the rest of the SimpleLink platform.
So before I get into the actual demo, I want to give a quick note about Thread since it is a new standard. I wanted to explain a little bit about it. Thread is similar to Zigbee. It's an ultra low-power self-healing mesh standard geared towards home and building automation. A couple of the key points that differentiate it from Zigbee are that Thread is IP-based.
So what that means is that every node in the Thread network has an IP address. So adjacent networks like your home Wi-Fi network can communicate directly to this node with an IP address. One of the second big differentiators is the commissioning. Thread has commissioning built into the standard and provides an app for smartphone commissioning. So when you want to commission a device into the Thread network, it's as easy as scanning a QR code, which I'll demonstrate later.
So I'm going to walk through the demo really quick. What we have here is a simple Thread network. This piece in the middle is called the border router that basically interfaces between your Wi-Fi network and your Thread network. Then past the border router are the nodes of the network. These are what we call Full Thread Devices. All of these nodes are meshed. And if one of them were to drop out of the network, another node can become a leader and keep the mesh network alive.
So I'm going to walk through the demo. The first thing I'm going to do, we have some home and building automation end equipments represented here. The top node that you can see is a thermostat node. So what I'm going to do is change the set point of the thermostat. And if I change the set point to say 99, for example, you'll see the screen changed. The set point of the thermostat now 99 degrees, and the system is heating because the room is 84 degrees.
This temperature node here is reporting the temperature back to the thermostat at a fixed interval. And as long as the set point is above the reported temperature, the system will be heating. If the set point is below, the system will be cooling. This node here represents shades or automated blinds. So what I can do is-- as you can see now the blinds are open. So I can close them. And a command's going from the phone through the Wi-Fi network and the border router to the shades and closing them.
So as you can see on the screen, I can open them or close them. Like I said, one of the last pieces of Thread that's a key differentiator is the ability to easily provision a node into the network with a smartphone, so I'm going to demonstrate that now. This node down here is a door lock, and I'd like to provision it into the network using the QR code next to it. So you can see it's as simple as scanning the QR code, and then clicking a button on the LaunchPad.
This whole process is actually secured. Many protocols are secured at the link layer, encrypted for the RF transmission, but Thread actually secures the joining process, so that as nodes join the network are all secured. And as you can see, the door locks now join the network. So if I go back to my app here, I now have a door lock in the network. It looks like right now it's unlocked. So if I flip the state to lock, I can now lock the door. And that's all it takes to have a Thread node join your network. It's as easy as that.
So really, really excited to have Thread as a part of the SimpleLink family now. And a lot of these demos that are end nodes that I showed today are available in the SDK, so you can check them out for yourself. With that, I'm going to pass it along to Adrian who's going to show a little bit more of this SimpleLink platform.
Thank you Nick, that's a fantastic addition to the SimpleLink MCU platform which brings us the industry's lowest power as well as multi-standard connectivity while being compliant with the SimpleLink SDK. To showcase some of the other connectivity solutions available in the SimpleLink platform, we have another demo here that showcases a complete end-to-end internet connected typology.
Here in the middle is an MSP432E4 device which has integrated ethernet. And this enables us to interact with our cloud ecosystem which is made up of partners like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and IBM. In addition, we also have a few network processors plugged on top, which allows us to interact with local edge nodes. In this case, we're using an 802.15.4-Stack from TI which is going over a Sub Ghz RF radio.
In addition, we also have a few via Bluetooth edge nodes as well. And through this, we're able to interact with our edge nodes locally and also provide remote monitoring through a cloud interface. To demonstrate that, I've got an ambient light sensor here. So when I cover that up, you'll actually see that the values in the cloud interface are updating appropriately. In addition, I also have a Bluetooth connected e-lock.
Now, we're using our CapTIvate technology from our MSP430 product line. And I can actually type in a key code here. And the status of the lock will update locally as well as reflect appropriately in our cloud graphical interface. And because this is talking to the cloud, we're able to tap into other voice assistance services such as Amazon Alexa, Google as well, and also Microsoft Services. So to learn more about CapTIvate, I'm going to hand it over to Dennis, who will go into a little bit more detail on our CapTIvate technology.
Thanks, Adrian. Hi everyone. I'm here to introduce the new MSP430FR2522 CapTIvate MCU featuring ultra low power and robust performance for low cost solutions. The MSP430FR2522 can support up to 16 channels with a proximity and can do 5 times less power consumption than the competition for battery-powered applications.
To demonstrate some of the robust performance of the 2522, I have a demo here which is sort of a worst case scenario. You don't want water, but I'm going to provide water. What we're demonstrating here is the ability that there is no false triggers, but a user can still interact with the appliance. And what this means is that the 2522 is an excellent candidate for large or small appliances, power tools, and even Bluetooth-type speakers that might be exposed to the environment where there is water or moisture.
Now, although this demonstration is demonstrating CapTIvate through plastic, the CapTIvate technology can also be used with other materials such as glass, wood, ceramic, and metal as well. If you're interested in CapTIvate technology and the new MSP430FR2522, we have the new BoosterPack.
It's the BOOSTXL-CAPKEYPAD that's available on the URL provided in this video. This particular demo board provides 12 keys plus proximity. It's compatible with the CapTIvate programmer and many of the other TI MCU LaunchPads. Thank you.
Great. Thank you, Dennis and thank you Nick and thank you guys for watching. We're really excited with all of these new products that are entering our portfolio, and we can't wait to see you guys at embedded world this year. And you can learn more about these products on TI.com.

Details

Date:
April 4, 2018

Get an overview and see demos of the new SimpleLink wireless MCUs and MSP430 MCUs with CapTIvate touch technology. The new SimpleLink MCUs are the lowest-power multi-standard, multi-band MCUs connect the building, factory and grid via Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth® 5 and Sub-1 GHz wireless technologies. The new CapTIvate MCUs provide low-power capacitive touch technology to cost-sensitive industrial applications with robust performance even in the presence of water, grease, dirt or EMI disturbances.